Double duty for top civil servant a clear conflict of interest, critics say

The top civil servant overseeing provincial forestry and energy policies has been put in charge of the environmental rules that regulate those sectors, raising questions about how he can do both jobs at the same time.

Tom MacFarlane, the deputy minister at the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, was recently named to the same top job at the Department of Environment and Local Government.

"It's terrible," said Green Party Leader David Coon. "He will be in a direct conflict of interest."

Lois Corbett, the executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said MacFarlane has "a breadth of experience" and "I have a lot of respect for him and his can-do abilities."

But "with one hat on as energy and resource development deputy, he has a certain economic agenda to fulfill, but as environment deputy he has to protect water, first of all, and clean air, and natural systems," she said.

"I don't understand, no matter how wide the beam is, how you can walk that beam."

Appointment not made public

MacFarlane's new appointment was approved by the provincial cabinet May 26 and took effect two days later. The cabinet order makes no mention of it being an acting or interim appointment. 

Shuffles of deputy ministers are done by Premier Blaine Higgs and are usually announced by the province in press releases, but MacFarlane's was not made public.

It took place when the public's attention was focused on the new COVID-19 outbreak in the Campbellton area.

MacFarlane replaces Kelli Simmonds, who was moved to the position of chairperson of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Tribunal.

Environment and Local Government Minister Jeff Carr did not respond to an interview request Friday.

'Worst decision that could have been made'

Coon said by holding two top bureaucratic jobs at once, MacFarlane is in the difficult position of having to decide in one department whether to restrict or ban activities promoted by his other department.

"Glyphosate is probably the most publicly well-known example," Coon said.

"Environment regulates it, they're responsible for the Pesticides Control Act, and they have the authority to not sign permits that would prevent its use on Crown land. And the Department of Natural Resources is fully behind its continued use." 

The environment department also regulates buffer zones around streams, brooks and lakes, a role that Coon said "runs right into" forestry operations under Natural Resources. 

"This is the worst decision that could have been made," he said. "I don't know what government was thinking when they decided that pairing those two departments under a single deputy made any sense." 

Corbett said New Brunswickers "have to respect our civil service and trust that they have the highest level of professionalism at all times. But what I'm concerned about is that the perception of conflict is sometimes just as dangerous as real conflicts."

No meaningful change

Earlier this year at the first hearings by a legislative committee on climate change, MacFarlane acknowledged there was still no strategy to meet emissions targets in the energy sector, three years after the provincial climate plan called for one.

"It's a fairly extensive effort to do such a thing," he said. 

Last fall, MacFarlane told the legislature's public accounts committee the department had "very little input" into NB Power's partnership with Joi Scientific because the department lacked the expertise to assess the company's hydrogen technology.

And in 2017, MacFarlane told the same committee his department still hadn't implemented a recommendation by the auditor general to give private woodlot owners a more reliable share of the wood being sold to major forestry mills.

"I think we're continuing to work on that recommendation," MacFarlane said.

A shrinking share of fibre from private woodlots, and a corresponding larger share from publicly-owned Crown land, contributed to the U.S. government ending an exemption for New Brunswick from softwood lumber duties in 2017.

Natural Resources and Energy Development Minister Mike Holland announced last December that woodlots would get to sell more, while wood from Crown land would remain at the same level over the next five years.

But Coon said Friday that without changes to legislation, that didn't amount to much.

"There's just been lots of verbiage from the minister on this but no actual meaningful change," he said.